Now, if there's a ding against Left 4 Dead, it's that the fact that there are only four scenarios, which is a small number to wrap your head around, and you can play through a scenario in 20 or 30 minutes on the normal difficulty setting. On higher difficulty settings, it'll take longer since you'll die a lot, requiring restarts at the beginning or the most recent safe house that you've reached. Granted, the four scenarios are highly replayable; you could play them over and over again and events unfold differently. There are two reasons for that. The first is the built-in "director" system that manages the action. If you're doing well, it will throw more zombies, like a sadistic dungeon master in a game of Dungeons & Dragons. If you're doing badly, it might decide to ease up on you a bit by providing health kits and ammunition. The second reason is simple human nature. It's a blast to play with others, but it can also be a hilarious experience, as well as a slightly frustrating one at times.

Then there's Versus mode, which is an absolute hoot, especially in a LAN setting. In Versus, one team controls the human players (you need at least a single player on the human side; the rest of the characters can be driven by bots) while up to four others play as the special zombies. If you're on the side of the undead, the game picks your special zombie class for you; all classes are available save for the witch.

Aw gross, boomer bile.

Versus mode plays out with each team alternating between human and zombie. Each team takes a turn trying to see how far it can get in each level; the humans win if all the survivors make it to the safe house or survive long enough for extraction. The zombies must prevent that from happening. Points are awarded for each stage, and the team with the most points at the end of the campaign wins. It creates a anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better mentality that drives the competition.

Playing as the zombies requires a lot more coordination since the special zombies need to work together to be effective. If the highly vulnerable boomer can get close enough to vomit on the survivors this not only blinds them but it unleashes the zombie horde. In the chaos, the other special zombies can divide and conquer the survivors. But if the zombies attack the survivors in a piecemeal fashion, the survivors will likely make it through.

The Game of the Year Edition also features Survival mode, which is a nice, fast-paced mode for those who like their action in five minute chunks. The goal in Survival is to hold out as long as possible against a tidal wave of zombies. Your survival will be measured in minutes, and the challenge is to record a better time. It's basically simple and fun.

The Source Engine that powers the game may not be as cutting edge as other graphics engines anymore, but it does a great job at rendering a variety of environments that are packed with detail and clutter. And the lighting system is incredible; this game has some of the best flashlight mechanics since Doom III. You'll be in a pitch black dark room and the only illumination comes from the small cone of light from your flashlight. The light is attached to the muzzle of the gun so when you reload the cone of light shifts to the ceiling. Another nice lighting effect the strobe light effect that occurs from the muzzle flash when you're firing in the dark; all you see are the faces of the zombie horde in flashes. Then there's the excellent facial animation that lets conveys so much emotion on each survivor's face, as well as the typical Valve sense of humor in some of the graffiti in the safe houses.

The game runs well on both the Xbox 360 and the PCs that I've played on. The Source Engine has been around for four years now, so it's been optimized and tweaked quite a bit. The PC version looks better at higher resolutions, and the load times are definitely quicker. That's not to take away from the Xbox 360 game, which also looks good, though the loading times do leave something to be desired, as every time you hit a safe room requires you to sit around for a bit for the next level to load.

The lighting effects enhance the mood.

The audio is also strong; there's an incredible amount of voice acting in the game as each character has a large number of lines to draw upon. It's not just the simple things, like crying out warnings, but it's the extra things, like how they mourn a fallen comrade. The special zombies all have their telltale sounds that warn you of their presence, and the music shifts dynamically to accompany the lulls and the heights of the action.

Left 4 Dead

Designed for co-op play, four players must work together to finish each stage of the game, lending each other artillery support, sharing ammo and rescuing each other when zombies are on top of them.

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The Verdict

There's absolutely no doubt that Left 4 Dead is one of the most social and exciting multiplayer games that we've ever played. It's almost pitch perfect in how it captures the tension and the action of a Hollywood zombie movie. This is an incredible and highly replayable multiplayer experience that's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're looking to prepare yourself for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Just make sure you bring your friends.